In 24 hours...

...i'll be in the Sydney airport waiting for my flight to LA, and it is taking forever to get there!!

Yesterday Rob got the afternoon off work which was great as we got to spend some more time together before he left. We treated ourselves to Mexican and just chilled out that evening watching TV and polished off a bottle of wine. We had the house to ourselves, and how quiet was it, it was awesome!! His flight left at 0700, which meant a 0445 wake up call, and of course both of us were awake by 0430, typical! I went with him to check him in and was able to go through security, so I waited at his gate with him as well. I actually had my typical butterfly's in my stomach when I fly, which was weird, because I wasn't flying!! I was only in the airport for just over an hour, and had to pay $20 in the short term parking lot - ridiculous! Rob got off safely, and is currently en route to Vancouver, somewhere over the pacific, and he's about half way there as of now! I drove home, and managed to not get lost, and was in the house by 0730! It felt like half the day had gone by! I decided to use my last pass for the gym, might as well and kill the time. The rest of my morning involved packing, tidying up the caravan, and of course painting my toe nails!!
I actually have a bit of a funny story, but not funny at the time. I have the keys to the caravan, the car and the house all on one key chain as it was getting difficult keeping track of them all, and I was locking the front door when I was in the caravan. WELL, I was in the house and decided it was time to paint my toe nails. I left the house, checked my pockets to make sure I had the keys, and closed the door. As I approached the caravan, I went to grab the keys, and they weren't there!! It was some magnets I had grabbed from the car that were bulky and I thought they were my keys. I was freaking out, but luckily I had left the caravan open - all by mistake, and in there I had Sue's phone number, which some how made me feel a little bit better, but my phone was in house! AHHH!! I checked the back door, but I had locked that. I was checking ALL the windows, even the high one in the bathroom, and they were all locked. Then I thought of Hailey's window, which was right next to the caravan, which had the power supply for the caravan leading into her bedroom. There was about 10 inches between the window and the caravan. I grabbed a chair, stepped on the ledge and shimmied myself about 4 feet to get to the window which I opened and got into her bedroom. What a relief!! I went and grabbed the keys, which were right where I left them. I went outside, via the front door to go get what I originally went for, and to my surprise, and udder embarrassment, the front door had been open the whole time!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even lock it when I left. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I had put myself into a major panic, and managed to break into the house, ALL for no reason what so ever. Lesson learned: always check the front door!!!!! LOL And as Rob would say, 'I pulled an Amanda'!

The rest of my afternoon has been pretty relaxed, was able to put my phone on hold so I don't have to pay anything, and picked up a pizza to have with my bottle of wine, which I get all to myself tonight!!
I'm sure I'll be asleep pretty early tonight as I was up so early today, and then the adventure begins tomorrow at noon, when I make my way to the airport! YA-HOO!!!!!

Less then a week :)

Well, the days are counting down, and it's getting more and more difficult to sleep because I am getting SO excited!!! I can't WAIT to see my dog, and my family of course, but its been 18 months since I cuddled my puppy! I can't wait to have some home cooked meals, first on the menu will be porcupine balls with a Dairy Queen Blizzard for dessert!

I'm getting everything done here, getting my taxes done for the Australian year, canceling my phone as I'm on a month to month plan, and canceling Rob's flight with VAustralia. I did some research and found that at a fee of $550, I can cancel the flight, and get $558 back. A huge rip off if you ask me, but at least I can get some of it back. Oh, and I will be doing this Friday, at the very last moment :) I've also just got my tattoo touched up so its all nice and pretty. He actually just re-did the whole thing as when he touched up the lines, it looked liked 2 different colors as the previous one had faded so much. So I went through the horrible pain ALL over again :)

I haven't even begun to pack, I have so few things, and most of them I use daily, so most of it will be packed Sunday morning. Rob leaves early Saturday morning, so I'll take him to the airport, and when I get back, I'll have the house to myself as the rest of the family are going away for the weekend. SA-WEET! The only thing, is I'll miss the dog!

I am a little bit worried that I might have problems as I am bringing my Didgeridoo home with me, but fingers crossed it doesn't get quarantined. When I was looking into it, the Australia export quarantine didn't help me, the Canadian consulate was even worse (I spoke with an Asian that couldn't speak English and all she gave me was a website for me to check). I ended up googling it, and called and spoke with a didg place in the Northern Territory. He said they send them overseas all the time, as well as take didgeridoo's overseas themselves, include the US, and have never had any problems. My only concern is that it is a wooden instrument, and I have no documents to state that it has been treated. But, just as the guy on the phone said, its just like a guitar or a violin, and as long as I declare it, I should be fine. I don't care if immigration fumigates it, just as long as they don't put holes in it to look for worms!!

4 more sleeps till I start my long haul home :))))

8 more sleeps...

....and it can't come quick enough! Next Sunday is so close, yet so far away, and the closer it gets, the more excited I get. Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking with my Uncle who has gone to Calgary with his family for a visit, and it made me even more sad that I wasn't there to spend time with them. They were all over at my sister's new house for breakfast, and when I saw him on Skype, I couldn't hold it in, and I started crying! It's been nearly 5 years since I've seen him and his family, and boy does it feel like it! I will be able to see them for a couple of days when I arrive in Calgary before they leave to go back home, just sad that I can't spend more time with them. I'm sure they will be going to the Stampede, and despite how much I think it is over-rated, its been ages since I've been and would love to go. BUT, if I can just get through this week, before I know it, I'll be home, with all my family who I love so much. And then, just like that, I'll be back in cold Victoria!!

Last evening a friend of Carol and Ian's, who are friends with us as well, invited us over for a linen/alcohol/housewarming party. We skipped out on the linen party, and showed up for the end of the 'grog' party. Rob and I had a few samples but they were SO sugary, I only had about 4 and decided to pass on the rest. Plus, they were pouring them one after the other to try and catch us up, so it was a lot of alcohol in a short time. I decided to stick with my wine and spiced rum, and of course all the munchies! There were about 20 or so people at the party and it was a great time, maybe too great. When we got home, of course I came on the computer right away, and that was when I got to talk to mom, and then my uncle (so I blame the crying on the alcohol). It was the latest I had stayed up in ages, and I was feeling no pain when I went to bed. However this morning was a different story. There was a massive wind storm that came through early in the morning that shook the caravan to the point were I thought we were going to end up in the street! Rob ended up pulling down the roof as the noise on the fabric was keeping us awake. Both Rob and I had massive hangovers, in fact, Rob still isn't feeling the best. He didn't even eat all his Burger King/Hungry Jacks. BUT, it was fun, and it had been a long time since we had a good drinking session. Plus, what else would we be doing on this cold, rainy, and very windy day in Victoria other then in bed, sleeping and me playing on the computer :)

Happy Canada Day :)

Happy Canada Day!! I know, its a bit late. Oh well :)

Yesterday Rob and I decided to do something adventurous, something I couldn't do while I had a broken foot. Things are getting better and better and I hardly have any pain with it, apart from a few movements. We headed west and landed in Ballarat, the largest gold mining town of the world (or something close to, but it sounds good). The place is Sovereign hill, and it is kept as it would have been in the 1850's when the first miners arrived. We spent the whole day there, and probably could have spent longer, but it closed down! They have everything from the way they would have lived, either in tents or small houses, old shops, a working Post Office, a sweets shop, a theater with shows through-out the day, and horse drawn carriages that take you around the small town. All the workers are dressed as they would have been in the 1850's and they keep in character as they roam the streets - all very entertaining. We even have the chance to pan for gold through the water that is pumped up from the mines. We searched, and only found a couple specks, nothing that was even worth while trying to fish out, and I did try :) However, we did find out that they do sprinkle $800 worth of gold in the creek on a weekly basis.

We saw approximately $145,000 worth of gold melted down and poured into a bar, saw how the rocks get crushed down to dust in the process of getting the gold out of the quartz. We went on 2 tours of the mines. The first one, we got the luxury of taking a 60 foot tram down, in complete darkness - just as the miners would have, only they traveled in a bucket and going a hell of a lot faster, and saw what happened to miners that got trapped from water that rushed into the mine as they hit an abandoned mine. We saw a presentation, in the mine, told as a story from miners that were trapped as well as their family's that were waiting for their loved ones to return. We watched the show on a flat body of water that was reflected by light from the town glued to the roof. There were faces on the wall across from us that light up as the people spoke. Kinda hard to explain, but a very interesting and 'cool' way to tell a story. That day, of the 47 miners that went into the mines, only 25 survived. Two brothers tied themselves together so they would ever be separated. Very sad.

The other tour we went on was general information about the mines, how they worked, and what the workers went through. The deepest of the mine is over 1000 feet below the surface, and the miners were put in a bucket, and dropped down. If anything failed, you were a dead man. And if the lifts were broken, they used the ladders to ascend and descend. For a fit miner, this was about 2 hours, and not included in the pay. There are some areas that still have gold in the quartz, however it was left as it was important in preventing the ground from caving in.

Victoria itself is full of gold, there are mines scattered all over the state. The largest nugget found was something like 78Kg, found somewhere in Victoria. It was found by some dude, that ran over it with his vehicle. It took 4 men to lift it!

I was very impressed with the tourist attraction, and despite ALL the kids (it is school holidays here), I managed to keep my cool (even after some brat stepped on my foot) and could have spent more time there. We didn't get to the portrait studio in time and couldn't get our photo done 'old school;. Next time I guess!

15 more sleeps till I leave :)

Sovereign Hill

On the streets, it was a bit cold that day

Police Officer getting ready to fire the Musket

Lookin' for that gold!

The gold pour :))

Everything happens for a reason

I am a true believer in this and try to tell myself this whenever something bad happens, even when I wonder Why? Why? Why?

My foot is one example, and I have yet to understand why that did happen, who knows, maybe I never will?!

As for why I kept on messing up on booking our flights to Sydney, well, I know why that was happening. And I blame the US consulate here in Melbourne. The bastards refused Rob a transit Visa for Rob to spend ONE night in Los Angeles (a total of 14 hours between flights) en route to Calgary. One of their excuses, because he is a traveler here in Australia, and he has no set address or family ties here. If he was in the UK, he probably would have got it. When he came out of the US Consulate office and he told me, I felt sick and in complete shock. I never once had any doubt that he would have been denied. I couldn't believe that they refused him entry and we are both are very angry at the United States. It upsets me because so many other people, even bad people, manage to get into the US without difficulties. I'm thinking I should have just put him on a boat and sent him north-east bound, he would have landed somewhere along North America, right?

The worst, he had to pay for the Visa via Australia Post before even going to the interview, a whole whopping $168, which is of course, non refundable. Not including the $14 fee for booking the interview on line, the $12 for the Express post envelope we had to buy (which would have been used to mail us the visa if he got it in the first place, but no worries, the envelope WILL be used at some point), the $21 in train tickets to get to the consulate, as well as Rob had to take the day off work. Honestly, between taxes, rising prices in everything, and governments taking money for meaningless things (like visa's that don't get issued), I wonder how countries are still in debt????

I feel very guilty because I didn't look into this first before booking his flights, especially considering it was his parents money that paid for the flight, but I honestly had no inclination that he wouldn't get into the US. And of course, we where flying VAustralia who only flies to LA, even all their affiliates fly via Los Angeles, no direct flights to Canada. Damn bastards. So, I basically just took $1118 AUS and watched it being flushed down the toilet. I am going to look into getting a voucher from VAustralia (AKA, Virgin airlines), but am not feeling great about it, it was a V Promo seat, with little flexibility. But I will try, and if not, I won't be canceling it and giving the airline the benefit of pocketing the money and selling the seat to someone else. Plus, I can then have more leg room as we were booked seating next to each other :)

We were told by a VAustralia representative (when we called asking about flights) that if we where in LA for less then 12 hours, he wouldn't require a US Visa, but he encouraged us to check with immigration first. That brought our spririts up for a bit, until they came crashing down, again. I tried looking on the US and Australia US consulate websites for info on whether he would require a visa, but seriously, that was a complete waste of time as they tell you nothing. Oh, but there is a number you can call and speak to someone about Visa enquires, at a fee of course. We decided this was the best option, even though we didn't want to give them MORE moeny, but we wanted to make sure we did the right thing. At a cost of $12, for about a 2 minute talk with a representative, we where told that yes, he would require a visa no matter what. Not what we wanted to hear. I called my travel agent in Darwin regarding flights to Canada and I asked her about the US Visa thing, and she did say it would be a good idea to have one in case flights got cancelled or delayed and we would have to spend the night in LA. We decided it was not worth the risk of dealing with immigration officers in LA (now that they not only know he was denied a visa, but they also have his fingerprints, which everyone gets done before his interview at the consulate), or even the chance that VAustralia would deny boarding in Sydney because he didn't have a Visa. So we searched for a direct flight to Vancouver.

As for the domestic flights I was trying to book from Melbourne to Sydney, the money was put back in my account and the bookings where cancelled. Next, I found flights for just myself to Sydney and back, flying Qantas with one, and Jetstar with the other and we pretty much return to Melbourne at the same time.

I was able to find a decently priced flight flying from Melbourne, to Sydney, then Sydney to Vancouver with Air Canada for Rob. I will have to change his flight from LA to Calgar,y to Van to Calgary. He will now be able to stay in Vancouver for a week to see family there and then he will fly to Calgary in time for the family reunion.

A huge bummer for the both of us, and now we have to fly alone which sucks even more, but not much we can do about that.

So why this has happened??????? Not sure, and may never find out????

Stupid, F#$%ing, American, Wankers........ ok, not everyone, but seriously.

What's up

Well, not much! Since my birthday Rob and I have had a pretty un-eventful week. Not only are we trying to save money, but the weather had been pretty crap which makes it difficult to do anything.

I've been going to the gym two-three times a week. I'm feeling great and am slowly getting better and better at walking without a limp :) It's a nice little walk to the gym as well so I can take my time, and it gets me off the damn computer.....that I oh so love :)

I have been trying to get everything organized for our trip home. It is less then three weeks till we leave and Rob needs to get a US transit visa for our overnight stay in LA, as well as I am still trying to organize flights to Sydney.

When I first tried to book the flight to Sydney, I thought I booked it on my credit card on line, but after about a week of not getting any e-mails, and a quick check in my bank account, it didn't go through. So I tried again, this time and tried the direct debit to save me the $14 credit card fee they were charging. It all went through, or so I thought. I didn't get a confirmation number, and to be honest, I didn't even realize I didn't get one. I realized a few days later that I didn't confirm it with a text from the bank. Stupid, I know. So I tried again, this time making sure I confirmed with a text. The next day when I checked my ticket on the Jetstar website, it still said I owed them money. I rechecked my bank, and realized that I forgot to add my confirmation number when booking. So my $354 is in banking cyberspace!!! I called Jetstar and they said I'd have to wait a few days for it to either make its way to Jetstar, or to be put back in my account. My account says it's been confirmed though, so I may have to make a phone call tomorrow to Jetstar to get it sorted out. How annoying, and it's all my fault!!!

And as for Rob's visa, that is another annoying thing! The US is being very difficult in issuing a transit visa. Because Rob is from the UK, he needs to get a visa before he can get into the country. It's only a transit visa, you wouldn't think it'd be a problem. Well, it is. On Tuesday he has to to go to the US consulate here in Melbourne for an interview.....for a damn transit visa!! Oh, yeah, and pay $168! Such crap. Anyways.

On a brighter note, Rob and I went and saw Shrek Forever After in 3D over the weekend, and what a great movie! I think 3D is a bit over-rated, but Shrek in 3D, was pretty good, despite the 2 birthday parties at the theater, and the movie being delayed for 30 minutes waiting for everyone to be settled. One birthday had about 20 kids - a good dose of birth control for a year I think!!!!

And so, the countdown is on now till we leave, 20 days, and counting :)))))))))))))))))))))